I first found this book in the library, and after returning it three weeks later, I was drawn back to check it out again. This is the only book of its kind, and made me want to immediately take a vacation--whether in an electric car or not! Perrin's journey takes him across America with Solo, his converted Ford Escort wagon, and he writes about a good portion of American culture, right down to his thrill to spend only $21 for a night in a hotel in Utah. He writes about all the questions posed him, the curiosities that were too irresistible to pass up, such as how expensive are the solar panels, what is the car's range, is it expensive to convert a regular car, and so on. Although Perrin's book is already over eight years old (and I was saddened to see that it is out of print), it is clear there has been some progress since the electric cars that basically had only one power source that was cheap, reliable and had a reasonable life expectancy, albeit a dangerous one: lead-acid batteries. I would feel uncomfortable sitting on top of (or near) 800 pounds of sulfuric acid. Solo has a limited range, only 150 miles a day and can only get up to about 65 MPH. The drawbacks come when accessories must be used: heater, lights, and defogger. I wouldn't have the patience to drive such a car, but maybe driving such a car would teach me patience.

I loved this book! Perrin makes nonfiction as literature an art, and breathes new life into travel writing. His book is very helpful in itself about a good, consistent writing style, and I love it when the writer takes me to the places he visits: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and so on. In that sense, "Life With an Electric Car" has no equal yet, and the author knows it. If you can find this book, buy it and keep it. Perrin's book is like a good drink that is sipped, not gulped down. Read it slowly. You may begin to think that the days of gasoline powered cars are numbered. That they are. Highly recommended for readers 14 and over.

Noel Perrin is a professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College. He had a moment of enlightenment when a student asked him how he traveled the thirteen miles to class that morning. "I drove in, in my gas-guzzling, air polluting farm truck," he admitted. Then began his quest to find a vehicle more consistent with his beliefs and his profession. He acquired Solo, a Ford Escort converted into a battery-powered, solar-panel-assisted electric car with a range of nearly sixty miles (on level ground on a warm day).

Perrin's adventures with Solo are in the best tradition of the "travelin' across America" genre. We share his frustration as he realizes that he can't make it up and over Donner Pass, and abandons his coast-to-coast drive to bring Solo home from California. (He buys a pickup truck to tow "him" - Solo is male.) We watch his chagrin as he realizes that his new truck/car caravan can't back up - not even a few feet - and he has to select motels, restaurants, and gas stops based on the shape of their parking spaces. We worry with him the first time he drives after dark; how fast will his headlights drain the batteries? Back at home, we cheer as the college gives him his own personal outlet next to a reserved parking space.

Perrin's attention to detail adds to the pleasure. He doesn't just state Solo's mileage range and charging time; he spells out the cost in time, worry, and inconvenience. School is thirteen miles away, and he can recharge the car during classes. His wife has her own separate home forty-six miles away - a little too far for comfort, especially with hills and cold weather making extra demands on his seventeen batteries. Perrin gives a detailed analysis of the "cradle-to-grave" pollution costs of owning Solo vs. owning a gasoline-powered car. He contends that Solo costs society virtually nothing - especially since he started to recharge "him" from a series of solar panels.

Three chapters have been added to the expanded paperback edition. These bring us up to date on the latest in electric vehicle technology and the evolution of the field.

This is a most enjoyable and informative book. It left me with a rather surprising urge to rush right out and buy an electric car!

Elegant and well-written, this is one of the few books to take a realistic look at American popular cultural technology. Historians and archaeologists coupld learn a lot from this case study.

This book starts out with a history of how Americans became mobile and the choices we made with respect to bicycles, mass transit and cars. It then goes into modest detail about the development of power generating stations needed to support electric cars and into great detail about the development of electric cars and how they fit into U.S. society. Development of gas cars is covered in depth only to compare the technologies and illustrate the choices we made. By reading this, you know a great deal about transportation technology and the society that developed it. The last chapter is all about the present and near term future of electric cars. The book offers an excellent depiction of how we have become the mobile society (or mobile mess?) that we became. Recommended for history buffs and especially for electric car enthusiasts.

This book is just flat out amazing. I read it every night, and that's a lot of reading (272 pages a night). Anyways, trust me, it talks about cars that are developing, such as electric and nitrogen...Peace out fools

this is the most exciting and interest book i have ever read on cars. I have found out so much information on cars of the future it is amazing. Jim Motavalli does a great job of explaining how these cars will work to the average person who doesnt know alot about cars.

"Forward drive" is a pleasure to read, written by Jim Motavalli, who is well-versed in his subjects. Reading this book is one of the few things today that makes me feel like I'm actually in the 21st century, not stuck in the 90's and never progressing. The book has a wealth of information not found in any other book, and there are only a few books about the future of automobiles. I had no idea that big automakers were not really in a hurry to give us a truly revolutionary car with a new power source; it seems the profit margin was less for holding off in research and development because of some link with oil companies. I mean, come on, it's the year 2001! Where are all the cars like we saw in Bladerunner? Are we still stuck using twenty-miles to the gallon gasoline internal-combustion engines? What is the message from automakers when cars depicted in video games, for example, seem more real than the actual future? Why isn't there yet a car that is beyond what we have?

The book discusses much needed information about "the race" to build cleaner cars, and that a car with no emissions--a technological difficulty in itself--is actually possible. The questions of fuel efficiency, speed, power and appeal of futuristic cars are also addressed, indicating the knowledgeability of the author. Key among the topics of "Forward Drive" is affordability. I would not pay $100,000 to drive a non-polluting car, simply because I'm not willing to pay that much just to drive.

Motavalli, editor of "E:" magazine, clearly shows his love for the craft of writing nonfiction. "Forward drive" cannot be fully absorbed in only a skimming or a preview; it takes a dedicated block of time to actually read its pages carefully. I have found it very helpful as a reference in the book that I am writing. This book is one of those you don't want to bring to the second-hand store if you have any concern at all about the future--which is actually right now. Highly recommended for intelligent minds. It's about time we have some new information about something that affects the majority of Americans: driving. Buy "Forward drive," you won't be disappointed.